universal food chopper in-depth : vintage kitchen

[@kalvinsmith6057]

I have No 1, No 2, and No 3. The No 3 grinder blades are not compatible with the smaller grinders. The grinder and blades are much bigger.

[@victorybase5847]

Hi can any of them (the #1, 2 or 3) be used to grind grain like wheat or corn?

[@kalvinsmith6057]

@@victorybase5847 I dont see why not. Depends on how course or fine you want it. If you want it very fine, probably need to ensure you have the nut-butter attachment. I rarely use my #1 or #2 anymore. Mostly use my #3 (its bigger and handles meat much easier) to grind up beef chuck roasts into course ground beef for chili, spaghetti meat sauce, and burger patties.

[@incontraincontra9310]

Incredibly comprehensive and superbly presented! When I become able to afford the luxury of retaining your services I would ask you to explain everything to me!

[@craftrevue]

Thank you for watching-I'm glad it was helpful!

[@mrglock2313]

Thanks for doing this video. It helped me make a decision on what to purchase on eBay 😂 I have been homesteading for years and I always used an electric grinder. If we lost power I would have been in trouble 👍

[@craftrevue]

Smart to plan ahead!

[@samanthawiessing6348]

Thank you for making this! I just got one hoping I can grind corn for cornmeal or grits. I will be restoring mine so it will be a bit before I can test it out. I'm worried that the bread crumber attachment might not be fine enough for grits. I might see how dried corn goes through the nut butter attachment. 🤷‍♀️We shall see. 😊

[@craftrevue]

Let us know how it goes!

[@elizabethcope1502]

Great video on how to use. A gasket can be made from food grade silicon or brought on Amazon.

[@craftrevue]

Great tip!

[@roadrunneroperationsllc]

Do you have a link? I cant find it on amazon.

[@jedgurley]

I know it's been a year since this comment but the machine would have to be modified to accept a gasket or seal , the gap is too small and would have to be machined to take an acceptable gasket

[@tabithahazeltine1136]

Thanks for posting this! I just bought one at an estate sale. I thought it was a meat grinder. Can’t wait to try veggies.

[@craftrevue]

Sounds like a great find! Have fun cooking

[@Chickenmom777]

Absolutely phenomenal educational video! Thank you🙂

[@chefbbaxley]

Well thought out and presented. Thanks for getting straight to the points!!!

[@pheart2381]

I think veg was cooked first,then pureed. For baby food or terrines.that nut butter plate is very exciting! learned a lot from this vid and the comment section.

[@suzanneguida258]

L. F. C. Stands for Landers, Frary and Clark. Made in New Britain, CT. Be sure to visit the New Britain Industrial Museum if you are in town. It is fascinating.

[@davidlutschg8750]

Nice thorough review!

[@wd4313]

You have a Beautiful voice, Thank you for the video. 💞

[@craftrevue]

Thank you for visiting!

[@freydablack9027]

I have one of these grinders and was hoping you would address how to sharpen it. The curved cutting surface makes it impossible to do with sandpaper as is done with flat cutters.

[@mitch5077]

New Subscriber here! 😎 Just picked one up from a Thrift Store in mint condition. 2 questions, is it dish washer safe? And which blade is best for making Hamburger?. I have a Ninja Food Processor which works fine, but this will be great for Power Outage's or Camping! Thank You, Great Video! 👍

[@craftrevue]

Thanks for subscribing! The grinder is not dishwasher safe :( For making standard hamburger I would recommend the mincing blade (in the video it's the one used on zucchini). But if you prefer a finer texture, the crumbing blade would be the best bet.

[@CrappieJunction]

How does one go about sharpening the chopping plates?

[@craftrevue]

Hello, thanks for visiting! Unfortunately I'm not sure of the answer to this :( These blades are trickier to sharpen than typical meat grinder blades; that's because typical grinder blades are flat discs, but these blades are convex. Flat meat grinder blades are generally sharpened by wet-sanding with increasingly fine sandpaper on a flat surface. So, my best guess is that maybe sandpaper could be wedged between the face of the hopper and the blade, thus sharpening the blade when the handle is turned?

[@CrappieJunction]

@@craftrevue Good thought! Thank you

[@kellyskallkrossare6636]

Did you have an issue with a black sludge coming out of the wing nut and black flecks in the nut butter? I just got one, tried to make a nut butter and there was just so much black material coming out with it. Like. . .is it edible?

[@craftrevue]

Hi Kelly! It sounds like there's some sort of buildup on the parts of your food chopper; since you just got it and the source of the flecks is unknown, I would probably toss that batch of nut butter :( The buildup is probably concentrated on the threads of the wingnut and the bolt it screws onto, but there could also be gunk elsewhere in the food chopper. If you give it a quick wash, you'll probably see the black buildup visually--all parts of the food chopper should appear silver. I recommend doing a deep clean of all the pieces, being careful to avoid soaking the wooden part of the handle. 1. disassemble the food chopper and soak pieces in a half vinegar, half water solution for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours 2. scrub away any discoloration from the parts, focusing on the wingnut & bolt threads. It may help to use an old toothbrush. 3. If you're having extra trouble removing residue, try using salt or baking soda as an abrasive. Just sprinkle onto the damp metal and scrub. Hope this helps!

[@kellyskallkrossare6636]

@@craftrevue I'll try this out! I spoke to my dad about it, and he thinks its deeps seated rust in the cast iron around the friction sites. He suggested getting some food grade rust inhibitor, putting a few layers on those friction sites.

[@craftrevue]

That's a great idea, especially if you live in a humid environment! If it were me, I'd probably just use cooking oil- that's what I use on my carbon steel pans to prevent corrosion. I just dry the pans with heat, then swipe a super thin layer on the cooking surface with a towel.

[@shermanhofacker4428]

My number 2 universal is far superior to newer food grinders I have tried for everything except sausage stuffing; the universal doesn't do well at that. I only have the second one of the disks but will keep looking for more as well as a number 3. As far as I am concerned any grinder that has holes in the final plate instead of cutters like the universal does is a waste of time. I haven't found any at a reasonable price lately. Regret giving a numbe 3 to a friend as she sold it at a garage sale without ever trying it.

[@Joemamma664]

Leeeet's sausage

[@victoriabernal7946]

Thank you for this! I just found my mom's Universal grinder and wasn't sure how to use it. This is super helpful!

[@yellowdog762jb]

Great vid, short, sweet and to the point! I have a couple of these in different sizes that I rat holed away over the years. I have some venison round steak in the freezer that I didn't know what to do with. The wife wants to make chili today and she announced that I am nominated to finely dice the meat! I just broke out my U #3 and watched your video for tips before starting. I have a nice U #2 that I bought awhile back that only has one blade. I came across another #2 in poor condition but it had several blades in good shape with it. Go figure. I bought that one for the blades and I only paid a few bucks, "since it was in such poor condition". :-) I thought these things were galvanized and that they couldn't be polished up too well. I am going to try that on my grinder that is not is such great shape! I'm thinking that a Scotch Brite sponge might be a happy medium for tough yet gentle. I saw in a previous comment some one asked how to sharpen the blades. It is possible, I saw a vid on it a few years ago. Running it backwards to sharpen it sounds like driving an auto in reverse to lower your mileage. I'm doubtful. There's a family owned store in New Ulm, Texas that sales lots of grinder parts called Heinsohn's Country Store.

[@craftrevue]

Thank you for visiting! Yes, I'm interested to hear from anyone who's tried sharpening the grinder blades. Thankfully mine aren't needing that quite yet. Hope the grinder restoration went well!

[@StockDude]

I would suggest making chili out of that meat lol. I wonder if I can use my Dremel tool to sharpen the blades??

[@freydablack9027]

If you figure out how to sharpen it with your Dremel, please post instructions!​@@StockDude

[@dnlmachine4287]

Great video thanks for posting. One great pro is that No Electricity required. Not just that, but the force/speed we can apply with the hand crank is infinitely variable. Stay gold.

[@janeandy6351]

Thank you for a really thorough review of the grinder and all of it's moving parts. This is hands down the best video for use and care of the Universal grinder that I've come across yet!!

[@ccrbonline1752]

I just got my grandmother's Universal No. 1 from my brother. Excited to see how to use it.

[@jedgurley]

Yup. First thing i noticed was the gap on the handle side. Juice and fluids could just come through with no resistance. It does have a small lip on the inside of the main housing that could support a gasket but it would have to be machined unfortunately to work properly

[@Earthy-Artist]

I like your reviews of various vintage kitchen tools 🙂.

[@ShaleHollow]

I just inherited one of these that's remarkably intact, and appreciate the tour... shed a lot of light on it!

[@Milewskige]

01:07 I have my grandma's old Universal #3. It only has 1 knife. (the first one) I'm looking online, can't seem to find the other 3.

[@craftrevue]

It can be tough to find the attachments by themselves! In addition to eBay, I'd recommend keeping an eye on the vintage section of Etsy.

[@Chungustav]

Keep in mind you don't want to use steel wool on the inside surfaces as the entire thing is lined in tin which makes it food safe

[@tammiefuller2]

I love this video. Thank you! I have very fond memories of my mother using this to make her cole slaw (these meat grinders make the best cole slaw!) I've tried replicating it with my food processor and it just doesn't compare. So, I found this one on Etsy and am waiting anxiously :) I'm glad I found your video :D

[@charmainehumphrey5346]

Great Vid! Thanks Question; could it be used to grind wheat into flour?

[@craftrevue]

Hi Charmaine! Unfortunately it doesn't grind finely enough to make a usable wheat flour, although you could probably make cracked wheat using the nut butter attachment. That attachment can also be used to make a rough oat flour from rolled oats. Putting nuts through it for only one pass makes flour that can be used for baking, since nut flours are relatively coarse anyway. Hope this helps!

[@ritamaiorelle4801]

Does it have room for a gasket? Maybe try to find one that might fit.

[@dali2133]

Absolutely excellent presentation. 18 million bonus points for the time stamps in the description. Interested to know if/how these would handle meat for home grinding of home grown meat. I picked up a Griswold #2 with extra plates for $8 or less 10 years ago or so. Been collecting dust since then, but now its time for some homegrown, home ground sausage to go in our egg casseroles made with home raised eggs. My mom has had a small grinder (that was probably a wedding gift in 1969) that she uses once a year to make cranberry relish for Thanksgiving.

[@craftrevue]

Thank you for the feedback :) It's funny, my grandma also has a grinder that she uses once a year to make relish (although hers is a pickle relish). These grinders seem to be perfectly suited to relish making!

[@georgekoumarianoseurekascr5879]

I'm lmao with the veggies

[@julieblair7472]

I have a cookbook from 1930 that mentions this device constantly, especially for soups and relishes / canning. Excellent info!

[@craftrevue]

Thanks for watching! You mind if I ask what cookbook it is?

[@julieblair7472]

@@craftrevue My Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook in a silver binder. It has a bunch of blank pages and blank lines on the section title pages so you can extend it yourself. I am lucky to have it, I have seen it online for a lot of money. lots of great preserves and pickles, relishes, and pies I have not seen anywhere else.

[@chadwickaren]

Can you see use for meat? I just purchased one to grind up cat food. Thank you for any reply.

[@craftrevue]

Thanks for watching! Yes, it can definitely be used for meat. I'd recommend starting with the "chopping" blade (the one I used on the carrots and zucchini in the video) for cat food.

[@darrowprairie]

Have you heard of anyone trying to attach a pasta extruder to this Universal grinder and succeeded using it for that purpose?

[@craftrevue]

Since the Universal grinder is slightly rounded on the front and doesn't take a stationary thread ring and disk like traditional meat grinders, it would be difficult to get traditional pasta noodles out of it. But you could probably make some cool pea-sized gnocchi with the coarse chopping blade :)

[@kmm2442]

Lovely. Quicker or more labour than chopping?

[@craftrevue]

Depends on how much you're chopping! For only a vegetable or two, I don't think it would be worth the trouble of assembly/disassembly/cleaning of the gadget pieces. But for a larger volume of food, it's usually much less time and effort to use the chopper. Most foods move through very quickly, and turning the handle is almost effortless.

[@Dafnessific]

I have what looks to be marked a No. 4.5 -- it doesn't seem all that large.

[@craftrevue]

Interesting! I've never heard of a size 4.5. Is the number stamped on the side of the hopper?

[@shermanhofacker4428]

Put the nuts through a chopping blade first then the nut butter disk. Gets past the hard turning first time. I use my no. 2 to chop nuts before putting them through my dedicated nut butter tool. Looking for a disk like you used as well as other disks.

[@craftrevue]

Thank you, that's a great tip!

[@lillyrivera2538]

Do you toast the nuts before?

[@StockDude]

My mom left me an old Universal 72 grinder similar to this one, but It has a clamp on top that releases to insert the inner part, whatever you call it, whereas yours is not removable. It comes apart in 2 halves for easier cleaning. My next thing is I will sharpen the knives of which it has 4, 10, and 16 blades knives. Maybe some are missing IDK. This model also has a trough at the bottom that catches juice which goes into the bowl eliminating the need for a chair 😉Anybody know how old the 72 is? Great video young lady!

[@rarted]

Came across one of these in my grandparents shed a few days ago, it's in really good shape with only a couple small spots of rust so clean up should be easy I hope lol. Looks like mine is missing the nutbutter/flour attachment though. Great review on it!

[@craftrevue]

I bet the small spots of rust will be easy to tackle with a little steel wool :)

[@margaritabetancourt1167]

👍👍👍

[@craftrevue]

What vintage gadget should I profile next? Let me know below!

[@jemcnair76]

Landers Frary and Clark made many wonderful tools. I have a few of the coffee grinders that attach to a wall with a cleat. They will grind any "grind" you could want.

[@lovetofly32]

I have three of these little guys I've collected over the years. Just neat as heck! And this gals voice made me sleepy 😴

[@RevMikeBlack]

It's not made entirely of cast iron. The threaded parts (bolts) and the chrome cap on the handle are made of steel and are braised onto the cast iron

[@craftrevue]

Thank you for sharing. That's excellent info to have!

[@RevMikeBlack]

@@craftrevue You're welcome. It's a truly amazing machine. I have my great grandmother's Universal #1 and it still works flawlessly, although the silvery "hot dip" coating is long gone. One cleaning tip: After you've done all the scrubbing with soap, place the grinder and attachments (but not the wood & iron handle) in boiling for five minutes. This will completely remove any residue and eliminate any bacteria that may be lurking in the crevasses. Chlorine bleach (which restaurants use) will kill bacteria, too, but it's not good for the cast iron. When you (carefully) remove the grinder from the boiling water, the cast iron will dry on its own within seconds due to the heat, thus leaving a pristine grinder ready to make another great meal.

[@cammiedoherty6378]

I unboxed my grandmother's old Universal Food Cutter #45. Have you heard of that one? I'm trying to find out what year it came out.

[@arturonavas1421]

Hola. Sera q puedo triturar o rayar hielo

[@craftrevue]

Hello, thank you for watching! I think crushing ice would be challenging with this machine, and I'm not sure if it would work. If crushing ice is possible, I think it would require a pusher (like a wooden dowel) to put pressure on the ice as it goes through. If anyone has tried this, please comment below!

[@ginnyjollykidd]

Thank you for this tutorial. I thought the "1" on the side was sprue for making the grinder! (I found the sprue; it's in a different place 😅) I got one of these grinders and I wasn't sure I had all the pieces. Your video showed me I had all but the butter blade, which is fine.

[@Goatisme]

I got a compact model for 10$ at the flea market, its only got the 3 grates of different sizes but that's pretty universally a good grind, makes good nut butter on the first grind (if I just add honey or maple directly to the grind, works great for me especially pumpkin seeds crushed for baklava seasoning alternative, even got the color), made killer fresh beef slab minced with it too. Its cool you don't even need a bladed part really even if you only got the 3 different sized holes grates you'll be able to make a pretty useful universal mince and grind with almost anything. I think my smaller model's pressure and small surface area make it realllll easy, it don't seem to have place for a big blade on the main axis either. No model number on it just MADE IN ENGLAND' mmmm.

[@sethgillihan5685]

I found one of these for $6 I went online and look up lots of them are going for like $300

[@larrylane5121]

Great presentation. I found a No. 3 yesterday and this helped me figure out how it works. Really nice details, especially the point of not over tightening.

[@dfhepner]

I came across this to see if there was a gasket that I was missing from my mother's #2 grinder. I was surprised to find a mess from the back when grinding up cranberries. I think that my mother got this in the 50's The only markings on it is Universal and 2 The crank had made in the USA.

[@richardschneider9098]

Great work, Veronica, now I know there is a nut butter plate to look for, and I will, that sounds great! If you, or anyone, has info on a trick for sharpening the cutters, I'd love to know -- my dad used to say that these and reel mowers could be sharpened by running them backwards for a while with a little valve grinding compound on the cutting surfaces. Also here's a tip -- it seems way easier to grind meat that is partly thawed. Tip #2: eBay is a good place to look for disks, but they may cost you as much as the grinder did. Them folks know what they got.

[@dodgee_doo]

Thank you! I see these at thrift stores all the time and I never knew the exact function.

[@craftrevue]

Happy to help!

[@JF-tn8lo]

I wonder if you can use it to make bean flour... Anyone tried?

[@googleuser6440]

Cool video thanks for showing how to use it, I just found one of those universal no 2 mincers today in an old house

[@VaranusVideos]

This was great. Just picked up one from a tag sale. You broke itdown perfectly

[@craftrevue]

Glad it helped!

[@ahmadgeo]

Great video 👏👏👏 I have a similar item "Vintage Husqvarna Scandia No. 1 Manual Meat Grinder/ Mincer Made In Sweden" that I'm having difficulty determining it's manufacturing date. Any ideas 🙂?

[@craftrevue]

thank you for commenting! there's a very brief section on Husqvarna's website saying they began making "mincing machines" in 1890. to be sure it was the right machine, I did some research and found a Swedish patent for it that was granted in 1888. so I can confirm that 1890 is most likely when the Husqvarna grinders went into manufacture. that's several years before LF&C's machine from the video above! the Husqvarnas were most likely made for several decades, since these machines were very popular for the first half of the 20th century, so it would be really difficult to say when a particular item was manufactured. I did contact Husqvarna to see if they had any more info on the no. 1 grinders (which I realize is weird, but companies as old as Husqvarna often employ archivists that are happy to share historical info). unfortunately Husqvarna didn't respond to my inquiry, but I can't say I was super surprised...today they mainly sell lawnmowers and chainsaws :) the Swedish patent: tc.prv.se/spd/patent?p2=xXtpFhIZrPE&sort=filingdate&reverse=TRUE&content=Husqvarna&lang=en&tab=1&hits=true&range=10&hitsstart=30&start=39

[@alcopower5710]

Exactly what I was looking for. Very comprehensive video and wonderful voice.

[@craftrevue]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tatecraft1361]

Just found a #1 in some stuff I guess we never went through after my grandfathers passing. Pretty rusty so soaking in Coke for a couple of days then gonna go to town with some steel wool. Found one of those old aluminum juice squeezer things too. Cool channel btw n cool name like mine 😂!!

[@craftrevue]

Thanks, I hope the restoration project went well!

[@landbalance]

Very detailed and great footage

[@freedomforever45]

Excellent review just bought a #1 w no rust from thrift store for 4$ and this was a well done tutorial thanks 😁

[@craftrevue]

Wow, what a steal!

[@kakea8403]

Thank you for doing this video! My dad used to use a chopper, like this one, when I was little. I have it now, but had no clue how to use, or even assemble it! So much, appreciated!

[@craftrevue]

Glad I could help!

[@truStory10]

Thank you! A lot of the info I was looking for! Packed full of tidbits and user tips. Very useful.

[@craftrevue]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ashwindersidhu1007]

awesome presentation!!!

[@thorrivera3440]

Could the meat grinder attachment be sharpened?

[@craftrevue]

Hi Javier! Yes, the first two attachments shown in the video could be sharpened. It would be a little tricky, though, since the attachments aren't flat and disc-shaped like a typical meat grinder blade. (On the Universal, the blade attachments are slightly convex to fit the rounded face of the grinder.) As long as you can get a good grip on the blades, they can be trued with sandpaper to effectively sharpen them. Cranky Buzzard has a great two-part video set showing how to do this. Part 1 is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoWVpnurrrCJiLc

[@justinewhiteowlweldon6499]

Awesome demo. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@craftrevue]

My pleasure!

[@DanDomanski9]

Great video!

[@craftrevue]

Thanks for the visit!